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Cessna A185F stretcher door and photo port photos

bat443

Registered User
Barnstormer asked about these photos of a 1973 A185F I previously owned. The original owner when new was the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, they used the photo port to drop fish in lakes as part of a planting program. They took the seats out and had a tank installed with a dump valve that dropped the fish out of the belly. They also had O2 tanks to keep the fish in the tank alive. The photos of the photo port show the ring removed that connected the floor and the belly skin as they were taken during an annual inspection. The smaller opening aft was for the view finder. If I had not sold the airplane for financial reasons I would have removed the photo provisions, restored the control cable routing to standard configuration, and replaced the floor and belly skins so that I could install the C3200 skis I have. The stretcher door was very handy but is not approved for airplanes with a float kit.

I currently have a 1954 170B 180 hp that I am flying until I get a chance to finish a 180H project. The 170B has the offset photo port behind the pilots seat. Next time I get to the hangar I will take a few photos of it also and add to this thread.

Tim
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A 180 that parks next to mine has a big stretcher door. The owner hauls lots of freight and supplies and even with that he never uses it. He says its a pain in the butt and wouldn't have another. I think his is taller than yours but his 180 doesn't have the back window to contend with. Does your stretcher door come with any operating limitations that differ from standard 185s?
 
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I think that the door you describe your neighbor has is a STC'd, door if I remember correctly it was from Alcor in the 60's. If it is the one I am thinking of it goes from the aft door post bulkhead on the left side to the aft end of the baggage compartment. I have only ever seen photos of that door. Looking at the photos it appears to have several latches and would have to be propped up when open. Then you would have to bend down under it to load things as the forward end is still under the wing. I can understand how that would be hard to use. The one in the 185 I owned was a Cessna factory door, it ran from the aft end of the baggage door to the aft end of the factory extended baggage. It had two latch pins at the front, one top and one bottom, very easy to open and close. There were no additional or different operating limitations on the airplane.

Tim
 
Thanks Tim. It's especially interesting to learn how the photo port was used in that plane.
 
Was just looking at a 180 project with a camera bay in it the other day. Quite the system to re-route the cables! The one I put in our 206 was much more simple!
 
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